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I will be the gladdest thing

Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

and not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds

with quiet eyes,

Watch the wind blow down the grass,

and the grass rise.

And when the lights begin to show

up from the town,

I will mark which must be mine,

and then start down!

-Edna St Vincent Millay

(Imagine your own view from a hill!)

African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways, poems by Avis Harley and photgraphs by Deborah Noyes, is more than just a book of poems, it's a puzzle, too. Not only are there acrostics, there are double acrostics (the first AND last letter of each line), the cross acrostic, which you find by reading diagonally, and the multiple acrostic! For a great interview with Avis Harley, visit The Miss Rumphius Effect, a blog discussing poetry, children's literature and issues related to teaching children and their future teachers.

To start things off right, Harley begins with this poem:

ACROSTIC (uh-KROS-tik)

Welcome all

poets - both new

Or well versed. Non-rhymers or

Rhymers! Come,

Dive in headfirst!

Inviting all writers -

Now you're just the right age.

Explore the acrostic that rides

Down the page.

Get at word you

Enjoy and would like to define.

Write it down vertically

And fill in each line.

Your name is a very good way to begin.

Surprise yourself. Find that poem within!

Did you see the acrostic? WORD IN EDGEWAYS! Very clever, the last line especially. Acrostic poems are a great way to get kids writing and get the creative juices flowing. Here are a few more inspire you!

WILD WHISPERS

Bat-eared fox and wind

In the stalks are

Given to conversation.

Ears such

As these can

Read any breeze, even

Sound out punctuation!

(BIG EARS)

Now Listen to Me, Son

First, my fowl,

Avoid all humans, who only come

To gawk and giggle. They

Hanker for our ostrich plumes and

Envy how our swan necks wiggle.

Really! Have you seen those people-toes?

Little tiny things in rows! How they

Yearn for ones we've got: so down-to-earth,

And second, esteem your lot.

Drink in the

View! Wear lofty airs!

Implant upon your brow a scowl.

Colored feathers? Well, who cares-

Enjoy the gifts you've got, my fowl.

(FATHERLY ADVICE)

Eye to Eye

Ear sails flap in a breeze.

Leather limbs in rhythm

Evenly swaying in step

Plod slowly over Africa.

Huge as a dinosaur, yet

A tender soul from such

Noble mammoth alumni.

There is wonder abuzz

Staring into eyes so wise.

(I'll leave this one for you to figure out, but here's a hint - there's more than meets the eye!)

There are plenty on non-fiction books for children on the market these days covering everything earth related from recycling to global warming, getting the point across with facts, crafts and mazes. Any bookstore or library you walk into this month should have a display of some or all of these books.

Having a literary focus on my blog, I will leave the reading of these books up to you. I want to take this day to feature some books that I have loved for a long time, before I even knew I needed to save the earth (when I was a kid, environmentalism was called "ecology" and the only public expression of a drive for consciousness in this area was a commercial with a Native America standing in a landfill with a tear rolling down his face...)

Some are based in reality, some are fantasy. I also want to feature some new books along the same lines that I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing over the past two years.

April being National Poetry Month, I have to start with The Tree That Time Built, a poetic celebration of nature, science and imagination, selected by Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston with illustrations by Barbara Fortin. To inspire a fascination with, love of and respect for nature in your children from a young age, this book is the place to start. It comes with a CD of the many of poets reading their work.

My first exposure to being environmentally conscious as a child was through the picture books of Bill Peet, winner of the Caldecott Honor Award in 1990 for Bill Peet: An Autobiography. Animals, circuses and trains almost always played the starring roles in the books by this former employee of Walt Disney Studios. A man of many talents, Peet was most often the story editor on many of the animated movies that make up the foundation of classic Disney films. His name can be seen in the opening credits for Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Fantasia, and 101 Dalmations and there is something Disney-esque in his story telling and illustration style. Peet's books are always rich with both story and character and he often gets a message across in the most subtle of ways. In these two books, he employs realistic and fantastical settings to tell his stories. Written in 1966, Farewell to Shady Glade is the story

of animals who find their homes being plowed under and hop a train to a better place. The dedication in the book reads, "TO RACHEL CARSON with the hope that the new generationwill carry on her all-important work toward preserving what is left of our natural world." The Wump World, which was published in 1970, a year before Dr Seuss' environmentally themed book, The Lorax, has a plot line that is echoed in the Pixar movie WALL-E. The peaceful Wumps inhabit a naturally pristine world until the Pollutians from another planet invade in search of new natural resources to consume. The Wumps find an underground cavern to hide in as the Pollutians wreak their havoc, paving over their world. Finally, when there is nothing left to consume and the air is too polluted to breathe, they leave. The Wumps break through the crust of asphalt and walk for days until they find nature emerging again.

Richard Wilbur, poet and writer, has twice won the Pulitzer Prize and served as National Poet Laureate. In 1998 a series of poems he wrote for The Atlantic Monthly was paired with the magnificent artwork of Caldecott winning illustrator David Diaz. Diaz is also a gifted graphic designer, which shows in his work, especially his illustrations for Newbery winner Sharon Creech's book The Castle Corona, which has the feel of an illuminated manuscript from the middle ages.

The Disappearing Alphabet, available in paperback and hardcover, is the work of these two gifted minds. The book begins with this poem:

If the alphabet began to disappear,

Some words would soon look raggedy and queer

(Like QUIRREL, HIMPANZEE, and CHOO_CHOO TRAI),

While other would entirely fade away;

And since it is by words that we construe

The world, the world would start to vanish, too!

Good Heavens! It would be and awful mess

If everything dissolved to nothingness!

Be careful, then, my friends, and do not let

Anything happen to the alphabet.

26 poems follow, each one imagining a world without the corresponding letter. All are thoughtful and playful, as are Diaz's illustrations. Definitely a book worth having on the shelf and surely one that will inspire minds to imagine the world in a new and different way.

You can read the poem for Q by clicking here. These are also two of my favorites in the book:

Hail, letter F! If it were not for you,

Our raincoats would be merely "WATERPROO,"

And that is such a stupid word, I doubt

That it would help to keep the water out.

What if there were no letter W?

The WEREWOLF would no longer trouble you,

And you'd be free of many evils

Like WARTS and WEARINESS, and WEEVILS.

But then there'd be (alas!) no sweet

WATERMELONS for you to eat.*

*What's more, I guess there'd have to be a

Different shape in CASSIOPEIA.